Analyzing AI use policy in LIS: association with journal metrics and publisher volume

The objective of this study is to investigate the landscape of AI use policies in library and information science (LIS) journals and examine their association with key journal metrics. The study analyzed 232 LIS journals indexed in the 2023 Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) portal, focusing on AI use policies, guidelines for declaring AI use, and references to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for establishing guidelines. Data on journal metrics, including quartiles, SJR, h-index, total documents published in 2022 (TD2023), publisher volume, and citations per document over 2 years (CITES2YR), were collected from the SJR portal. Several key findings emerged: the majority of LIS journals did not have explicit AI use policies, although AI tools were generally permitted for manuscript editing. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between higher journal metrics, particularly citations (CITES2YR), and the presence of AI use policies, while other metrics, such as SJR and h-index, were not consistently significant. Furthermore, larger publishers were more likely to have AI use policies but showed flexibility by not mandating AI use declarations. Significant differences were found across journal quartiles, with Quartile 1 journals being more likely to adopt AI use policies than Quartile 4. These findings highlight the influential role of large-volume publishers in shaping AI use policies and emphasize their importance in setting scholarly norms in the LIS community.